Possible Trade Ideas v.7

1. He's playing nowhere near an NHL level. SUBJECTIVE
2. When he's not injured, he's shown to be inconsistent. At best. ALSO SUBJECTIVE

Therefore this staff doesn't have the trust in him to see NHL ice. He won't be on this roster next year and based on what I've gleaned, I'd put money on it.

Aside from he looking slower than normal, his NHL play this year has been on par with Stoner, Falk, Spurgeon, and Prosser. Which is completely normal considering that he's younger than all those guys except Spurgeon. And he's played at a higher level in the NHL than Stoner, Falk, or Prosser ever have.

And he's played at a higher level in the NHL than Stoner, Falk, or Prosser ever have.

This is easy; SUBJECTIVE.

He's certainly well behind all three. If Scandella did happen to show anything, anything at all, this year, Prosser and Falk are waiver wire fodder. Not to mention Scandella sees the ice once Spurgeon (who's well ahead of Scandella) goes down if this organization has any sort of trust in him after losing a bigger part of their defensive corps.

Yet, he didn't and it's a pretty damning indictment on where Scandella's game is currently at. Especially when you look at the shape of this defense save Suter, Brodin, and Gilbert. If Scandella were to have shown anything worthwhile in his game, he's with this team. Contract status' and all; you make room for guys who you feel are markedly better players. This coaching staff obviously doesn't feel Scandella's there. And again, we're talking about players like Stoner, Falk, and Prosser.

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After Meaningless Win - 3/29/12 - Game 77 | SoH-"Who knows, that could have cost us a Cup tonight." | Dooohkay

He's certainly well behind all three. If Scandella did happen to show anything, anything at all, this year, Prosser and Falk are waiver wire fodder. Not to mention Scandella sees the ice once Spurgeon (who's well ahead of Scandella) goes down if this organization has any sort of trust in him after losing a bigger part of their defensive corps.

Yet, he didn't and it's a pretty damning indictment on where Scandella's game is currently at. Especially when you look at the shape of this defense save Suter, Brodin, and Gilbert. If Scandella were to have shown anything worthwhile in his game, he's with this team. Contract status' and all; you make room for guys who you feel are markedly better players. This coaching staff obviously doesn't feel Scandella's there. And again, we're talking about players like Stoner, Falk, and Prosser.

Yeah, that's not what is going on at all.

Scandella because of his injury was not up to NHL speed. However, he did play 6 games until Spurgeon got close to being healthy. At that point, Fletcher had to make a decision. Suter and Gilbert obviously weren't going anywhere. Brodin had played himself on to the team. Spurgeon is Yeo's favorite. So, there was Stoner, Falk, Prosser, and Scandella fighting for three spots.

As Russo said over and over again, Scandella was the only one of those 4 who had a two-way contract. Stoner's salary is over $1 million. Falk and Prosser's salaries are $825,000. That means Scandella to Houston saves the Wild around several hundreds of thousands of dollars. That's not chump change. Sure, Stoner, Falk, or Prosser could get picked up on waivers, but the likely outside guy, Prosser, probably wouldn't. Factor in that Kassian is already costing the Wild lost of money and that Scandella still needs to get up to speed anyways, and it was a easy decision for Fletcher to make. After that point, it made sense for Yeo to scratch Scandella in favor of others since Scandella was already going down.

And it was a decision that had nothing to do with Scandella's long-term worth to the Wild. Even if he plays the reason of the season in Houston (which he won't), he'll still come into camp next year ahead of Stoner, Falk, and Prosser, if they all are still here.

While the money/waivers helped with the final decision to send Scandella down, his play was the primary reason. But playing him alongside Falk was a disaster in the first place, yet the pairing looked improved from the Stoner-Falk that we ran out for Scandella's 1st game where he was paired with Brodin. Until the Canucks game, which coupled with Spurgeon coming back made the decision easy.

While I am still big on Scandella, his career appears to be following a similar path as Cody Franson. Make all these improvements from 18-21 to get everyone's hopes up, but then hit a wall and don't continue that same progression. Get caught in mobility problems more than anything.

That being said I'd still prefer if we gave Scandella a look either with Spurgeon or Gilbert for a few games if we lose a couple on the grounds that Falk/Stoner aren't playing well enough. I do believe he can outperform either one of them with either of those players, and his history with both of those players supports that. But you might as well call up Genoway/Kampfer if you need a partner for Stoner or Falk, it just doesn't work.

Anyone seen how Johan Gustafsson has been doing in the SEL again this year? Two straight years with around a 1.75 GAA and a 93% save percentage. It's going to be an interesting goalie situation real soon.

You've got Backstroms huge contract expiring and he will not be resigned for that same price tag by any team.

Hards is dealing with MS and that has already shown to be extremely unpredictable.

Kuemper is playing really solid with the Wild right now and was doing well in Houston as well.

Hackett was good for the Wild last year and he is still a very viable prospect.

Gustavsson is tearing it up in the SEL and is looking like another great goalie prospect.

Anyone seen how Johan Gustafsson has been doing in the SEL again this year? Two straight years with around a 1.75 GAA and a 93% save percentage. It's going to be an interesting goalie situation real soon.

You've got Backstroms huge contract expiring and he will not be resigned for that same price tag by any team.

Hards is dealing with MS and that has already shown to be extremely unpredictable.

Kuemper is playing really solid with the Wild right now and was doing well in Houston as well.

Hackett was good for the Wild last year and he is still a very viable prospect.

Gustavsson is tearing it up in the SEL and is looking like another great goalie prospect.

What the hell are we going to do with all these goalies?

Kuemper and Hackett could potentially vie for the start spot next season. I'd prefer to have some veteran presence as a backup, which is why I've come around to re-signing Backstrom for cheap on a 1-2 year contract, which would leave the loser of the starter battle in Houston along with Gustavsson. Eventually, two of the three could become a tandem a la Halak and Elliott last season in a best case scenario. But yes, that would likely mean that one of the three is traded.

This is all if Harding can no longer play, by the way. It would be terrible if that happened, but it has to be considered.

I don't know how many people watched the Aeros during the lockout, but I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Scandella was inconstant as hell BEFORE he was injured. There was a long stretch of time where he wasn't even on the first pairing.

Luleć does play a decidedly defense-first system, so you consider that while looking at Gustafsson stats. That being said, from what I've seen of him this year (not live) his positioning and reflexes are excellent and there's no reason for me to think he is not one of the top 5 goalies in the SEL. How he performs outside of Luleć will be an important test.

Though, if you want to credit Gustafsson's good stats to Luleć's defense, consider that Gunnarsson is 2nd on the team in time on ice.

Come this summer, Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry will be front and center in the free agent frenzy that will allow teams to officially.... I say 'officially' because teams have basically ignored the tampering rules for years, either by technically prohibited back-channel communications or legally through trading for a soon-to-be UFAs rights ... court UFAs in the week leading up to July 1.

There is actually may be a closer drama bubbling under the surface... as in before the trade deadline. There have been discussions among Eastern teams about making an all-out push for former Hart Trophy winner Perry should Anaheim make him available. In the words of a veteran source, the Penguins and Rangers would be "willing to duke it out" to get the power forward (how scary is the thought of Malkin-Neal and Crosby-Perry being on separate lines? Yikes). Depending on where the Flyers are in the standings, they would also have to be considered a club that would become involved.

But here's the thing: Take a look at the current standings. Anaheim is in first place in the Pacific Division and has played amazing hockey of late. As such, they aren't going to consider ANY major moves right now other than continuing to talk to Getzlaf and Perry about re-signing in Anaheim rather than hitting the open market this summer.

If Anaheim nosedives... and I don't see that happening... then we could be looking at one hell of sweepstakes for Perry or Getzlaf by April. If not, the Ducks will roll with they've got, and try to get their biggest guns signed before the major, major bidding wars get started in free agency season.

Come this summer, Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry will be front and center in the free agent frenzy that will allow teams to officially.... I say 'officially' because teams have basically ignored the tampering rules for years, either by technically prohibited back-channel communications or legally through trading for a soon-to-be UFAs rights ... court UFAs in the week leading up to July 1.

There is actually may be a closer drama bubbling under the surface... as in before the trade deadline. There have been discussions among Eastern teams about making an all-out push for former Hart Trophy winner Perry should Anaheim make him available. In the words of a veteran source, the Penguins and Rangers would be "willing to duke it out" to get the power forward (how scary is the thought of Malkin-Neal and Crosby-Perry being on separate lines? Yikes). Depending on where the Flyers are in the standings, they would also have to be considered a club that would become involved.

But here's the thing: Take a look at the current standings. Anaheim is in first place in the Pacific Division and has played amazing hockey of late. As such, they aren't going to consider ANY major moves right now other than continuing to talk to Getzlaf and Perry about re-signing in Anaheim rather than hitting the open market this summer.

If Anaheim nosedives... and I don't see that happening... then we could be looking at one hell of sweepstakes for Perry or Getzlaf by April. If not, the Ducks will roll with they've got, and try to get their biggest guns signed before the major, major bidding wars get started in free agency season.

would cullen waive to go play for Pittsburgh? was Shero even here to scout?

Cullen's NTC is a modified NTC. I don't believe the exact terms have ever been disclosed. But if its a list of teams to include/exclude, its hard to believe he would object to going to the pends and playing on Crosby or Malkin's wing.

And if the terms are that it was only the first two seasons of the deal, than he has no choice.

would cullen waive to go play for Pittsburgh? was Shero even here to scout?

Shero was at the Avs game to scout. Rumors during the game were Jones for Colorado, Gooch, PMB, or Clutter for us. I haven't seen Cullen's name pop up anywhere except for the article above.

EDIT: Definitely could have been a casual visit, I suppose. Pittsburgh was in Winnipeg the next night and Shero's son had a tournament in the twin cities that day or that weekend, I think I read. Who knows.